Tuesday, January 31, 2006

A Fijian Village

A Fijian VillageFrom Peceli and WendyThe word Vatuadova means a stony place of the shellfish and is the name of a small river that is rich in food resources such as oysters, crabs, prawns. The river runs into the sea. Many women in the Labasa come and ask permission of our clan to gather shellfish and crabs.Our family reserve land is at Vatuadova, beside the main road to Savusavu and is an area of rolling hills, mainly covered in sugar-cane with small Indian settlements of about ten to twenty acres. In the early 60s there was no village there, only a sugar-cane field. Then only one family built a small house beside the narrow, shallow river: my youngest brother's family (who had lived in Lautoka) then my sister's family, moved there and built a small bure and house. But we were allocated Vatuadova as our true land. At that time all 2000 acres were leased out to about sixty Indian cane-farmers so the 13 acres of reserve land was given back to our family by the 1960s. We were living in Lautoka at the time, very busy as a Methodist minister and clergyman's wife.The Indian cane-farmers pay small annual fees for their leases. The fees go to the Native Land Trust Board who used to take a fee of 25% then give the rest back to the Fijian clan and today their cut is about 15%. There are on-going difficulties about land in Fiji.As the Vatuadova homestead settlement grew with more relatives moving in and houses built, it has become a village rather than a sugar-cane farm. Several Ezy-built timber houses, mostly three-bedroom, have been built and a bore provides clean piped water for about fifty people. Electricity has been put on in recent years. In 1998 the family decided to build a church and the blue and cream paint was still wet for the opening and dedication prior to the marriage of our eldest son there.From January 1972 to January 1975 we lived either at the Vatuadova cane-farm or beside the beach at nearby Nukutatava where we built three bamboo and thatch cottages. We had three children by this time, our youngest son born in Labasa hospital. In many ways that time was an idealistic life of family sharing, networking, mutual help, living off the land and sea as well as starting development projects for the extended family.Though Vatuadova is our family base, but it was not always so. Prior to the 1940s there was a village there but it was abandoned when Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna and his group mapped the whole of Fijian land. Those villagers relocated to Tabia and Wailevu villages. Our family, including my father, born in 1896 and my mother and six of us brothers and sisters lived in the Labasa town area in the 30s and early 40s. After my father died in 1944 my mother returned to Mali Island with three children, and the three of us went to live in Naseakula village with a great-aunt and great-uncle. Some of my father's land was given to the Anglican church for the building of the St Mary's hostel and all our town land was lost to us.

So Vatuadova is our family base now and it is always a home-coming when we go there as this is our yavu, our homestead.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I am trying to find anyone that lived in Lautoka that can help me in tracing my father's relatives. He was from Lautoka and was adopted by a Mr Karpaiya that was a methodist in Lautoka. Mr Karpaiya died around 1970/72. My father worked in the sugar cane fields in Lautoka when younger and moved to Suva when he was around 18 and then on to London England. If you know of an agency or person I could contact in Lautoka it would be much appreciated my email is LHOKAN@AOL.COM

We were in Lautoka in the late 60s but Peceli doesn't remember that name from Wesley, the Indian Division church. You can look up Fiji phone numbers (and probably addresses) on the Teldir website and find someone from the Wesley Methodist Church in Lautoka who could look up their membership files of the 60s and 70s. I hope that helps.W.

Can you please tell me what the "Teldir" website address is? I am in the USA and would like to find the number(s) for the Indian Division church to see if anyone knew my father's adoptive father (David Karpaiya) thank you for your help.

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About Me

Babasiga (pronounced bambasinga) is the dry land of Macuata in northern Fiji - our place in the sun in Fiji. Peceli is from Fiji from the village is Vatuadova and the beach is Nukutatava. Peceli Ratawa passed away on 27th December 2015 so this is Wendy's blog now. Wendy is an Australian and today live in Geelong, Australia.